


out of hell, and into the light

by evangelistofstars



Category: Hadestown - Mitchell, Phantom of the Opera - Lloyd Webber
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hadestown Fusion, Death, Established Relationship, M/M, Song: Doubt Comes In, Underworld, a lot of references lmao, dedicated to the rerik insta gc, erik!orpheus, hadestown but gay, raoul!eurydice, rerik hadestown au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-06
Updated: 2021-02-06
Packaged: 2021-03-17 22:14:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29232843
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/evangelistofstars/pseuds/evangelistofstars
Summary: Erik was a poor boy, but he had a gift to giveHe could make you see how the world could beIn spite of the way that it isErik's heart falters. Doubt comes in.
Relationships: Raoul de Chagny/Erik | Phantom of the Opera
Comments: 6
Kudos: 13





	out of hell, and into the light

**Author's Note:**

> so i've been meaning to write a rerik fic for a long time and i finally had the muse to write this one, so here it is! hope you like it!

Erik knew the way. He could walk it blind if need be. After all, it was how he’d gotten here in the first place. He could just go back the way he came, and lead Raoul out of the dark. He’d lead stones to weep and broken down walls and brought the mightiest of kings to tears, hell, he’d gotten here! Getting Raoul home safely was the least of his worries now. 

He couldn’t help but be reminded of the day they’d met, when he’d stumbled upon Raoul picking flowers in a grassy field, and his heart had fluttered. “Come home with me,” he’d said to him, sweeping him off his feet with his beautiful music, and promising to provide for him. Times were hard up on top, and Erik and Raoul didn’t have much, but they had each other. And as long as Erik had his music, the rivers and the trees would shelter them and feed them and give them all they needed. The wind would never change, and they’d stay together, livin’ it up on top.

Erik had a vision for what the world could be. He wanted to make it beautiful for Raoul, who was both wide eyed and naive, and at the same time, far more practical and in the moment than he. He wanted to prove to him that the world could be beautiful because of his music, despite his face not being beautiful, and the times they lived in being hard. He was a visionary, an artist who spoke his mind, and used his music to change the world around him. Perhaps that was why Raoul had fallen in love with him. He made him see how the world could be. He made him feel alive. And feeling alive was worth a lot, as he’d said on the day they’d first met.

But alive had not been enough. The times grew harder, the winter came on, and, as Erik got lost in the world of his song, trying to change the world, the practical Raoul was struggling to gather food and firewood, which they needed to survive. Erik had promised to provide for him, had said that the winds would never change, and Raoul was beginning to see that he was wrong. Erik had his head in the clouds, and all the pretty songs he played on his lyre couldn’t provide food or firewood or put a rooftop over their head, weren’t gonna harbor him from the wind.

So Raoul had taken a deal from Hades. He’d sold his soul, and boarded the train to Hadestown, where he’d been promised a better life. His heart belonged to Erik, and always would, but he couldn’t ignore his body’s pleas for food and shelter, which Erik could not provide. The chips were down, and Raoul was already gone.

It wasn’t long before Erik was snapped to reality, realizing Raoul was gone. He’d asked Mister Hermes where to find him, and when he discovered he’d gone down below, his heart sank. Still, that didn’t stop him. He didn’t have a ticket, couldn’t board the train, but that didn’t stop him either. He’d walk the way down if he had to. And so Erik did just that. He walked to Hadestown, crossing razor wire and cinderblocks and vicious dogs, walked along the River Styx until he reached the bottomland. “Wait for me,” he sang out into the air, almost calling to Raoul even though he obviously couldn’t hear him. “I’m coming with you.” As he reached the entrance to the underworld, the great stone wall that Hades had built, he continued singing. He sang a song so beautiful, the stones had wept and they’d let him in, the wall suddenly opening before his eyes. He was ready to find his love. He’d bring him home. He wasn’t going back alone.

Way down under, Raoul had discovered that Hadestown was not the place he’d been promised. It wasn’t a paradise, and he wasn’t freed, nor was anyone else who’d sold their souls to the King of the Underworld. He, like the rest of them, was a slave to Hades, forced to work in his factory day in and day out. Hades had tricked him, just as he’d tricked everyone else down there. He’d signed his life away, and he would never be free, forever a slave to Hades’ whims. He was a flower which had rot and fallen apart, and nothing would wake him now.

As Erik arrived in Hadestown, he looked around, not understanding why anyone would sell their soul to be here, much less someone like Raoul. Still, he found him, and reunited with his lover at last. He’d gotten on one knee, proposing to the other man. But it was too late. He belonged to Hades now. Erik began to see how Raoul had been right. The world wasn’t beautiful, and he couldn’t change it, no matter how much he wanted to. Nothing changes, anyhow, why go against the grain? Take his voice and hands, he had no need for them anymore. Had no use for his music, or the memory of the muse from which it came. It was true what they say.

His voice had been shaky as he sang for the King, but he’d let the music consume him, feeling the words as best he could, and apparently it had worked, as the King was moved to tears enough to let him and Raoul leave together. But under one condition. Raoul would have to walk behind him, and Erik could not turn around to make sure he was there.

He’d been confident when Hermes broke the news to him and Raoul, that they wouldn’t be walking side by side. He’d been confident as he promised Raoul to walk with him, no matter what happens, any way the wind blows. Forget any promises they had made up on top. All they needed now was each other. All that mattered was the love they shared between them. 

On the way out, Erik sang his melody, a simple tune to distract his mind from the voices in his head. He heard Raoul behind him, calling “wait, I’m coming with you,” and any doubt he harbored slipped away, as Raoul continued to call out to him. But as he walked on, the cries became more distant, and he wondered if he’d even heard anything in the first place, or if it had all been an illusion. What if Hades had tricked him? What if Raoul was never there?

He continued to sing his melody, vocalizing out into the darkness, almost as a means of calling out to Raoul, but there was no response. The voices in his head, the cruel Fates who sang in the back of his mind, whispered to him like the wind. 

“ _ He’s not there,” _ said the first sister, Atropos. 

_ “Turn back around,” _ Lachesis whispered bitingly.

_ “People turn on you just like the wind,”  _ Clotho taunted.

But Erik continued on, singing his melody. He had trust in himself and he had trust in Raoul. But did he have trust in Hades, was the question. The one that taunted him and made him want to stop dead in his tracks. But he’d come so far, and he couldn’t give up just yet. Erik could’ve sworn he’d heard Raoul call out to him, but it was so distant, he feared he had only imagined it.

“Erik, you’re shivering,” Raoul called out to his lover behind. “Just keep singing,” he tried to reassure him. “The coldest night of the coldest year comes right before the spring.”

The call fell upon deaf ears, and Erik felt so alone in the emptiness, the darkness, the silence, as if Raoul wasn’t there. “Where are you? Where are you, now?” He called out to no response. The voices in his head grew stronger, and he sang out his melody to push them away. But as he sang, the melody began to slip away from him. His heart faltered, and he began to forget the songs it once sug. “Where are you?” he called out again, to no reply.

“Erik, just hold on, hold on tight,” Raoul called out to him, sensing his doubt once again. “It won’t be long now. The darkest hour of the darkest night comes right before the dawn.”

But his call once again fell on deaf ears, as a despaired Erik willed himself to keep going. He once again could’ve sworn he heard Raoul’s voice calling out to him, but the voices in his head told him it was just the wind. He doubted Raoul was even behind him at this point, he even questioned himself and if he was going the right direction. What if Hades had played him? What if this was all a game? Erik had used to see the way the world could be. But now he could only see the way it was. It wasn’t beautiful. It couldn’t change. He was powerless.

Erik could see the end of the darkness approaching. He could see the light in front of him, could smell the grass in the air, and he knew that he had almost made it out. He willed himself to go on, to not turn around at least until he had made it out of the Underworld and on to real, solid Earth. Not until he knew he was safe. He kept walking towards the light, following the smell of the grass. They were so close, only a few more steps now. He was starting to forget why he’d ever doubted himself. The end was near. Everything was going to be fine.

As he stepped onto the grass, squinting up at the bright light that suddenly enveloped him, feeling the warmth of real air around him for the first time in so long, Erik let out a sigh of relief. He’d made it. He was safe. He could look back now and see if it was all a trick. And if it wasn’t, Raoul would be right there beside him, and they could walk home together, hand in hand. And if it was, well, at least he’d now know never to trust a God. 

He turned around, hesitantly, praying Raoul would be there. To his pleasant surprise, he saw his face staring back at him. He wanted to reach out to him, to hug him and kiss him and just finally be able to touch him. They were safe. They’d made it!

“You’re early,” Raoul said, staring at Erik sadly. It was then that Erik realized that he was the only one standing on solid ground. He’d made it out, but Raoul hadn’t.

“I missed you…” Erik said, starting to cry. He watched as Raoul began to fade into nothingness, his hand reaching out to Erik as he disappeared, returning to Hadestown, where he’d remain for all eternity, while Erik now had to spend the rest of his life on top, alive, but without him.

Erik collapsed onto the ground where Raoul had once stood. He was gone...


End file.
